Technology has been upgrading and modernizing for thousands of years, but in the very end of the 20th century, the era of social media was born and soon enough it tremendously altered the lives of humans. Social media has created this alternate universe that connects people in ways that could not be possible without those means.

One story in particular, takes place in 1978 when my mom’s brother was taken away from her birthplace in Lebanon to England, so that he could get a better education. Little did my mom and her family know, that when her brother was taken away, she would never see him again. For a while at least. Those who took my uncle away, forcefully and cruelly cut off all communication with his family and made sure that there was no way any of his family could find him. They had also convinced him that his family did not want him, as we later learn. Fast forward about 30 years later in 2008, when my mom had first opened a Facebook account. At this point, she had still no further information about her brother, except that he got married and had two kids. She had joined a Lebanese group on Facebook, where they updated it with news on Lebanon. As my mom looked through the members of the group, she found an unfamiliar 16-year-old kid with the same last name (In the tiny country of Lebanon, everyone knows literally everyone with the same last name, so it was bizarre if you did not recognize the person). After some deep digging into his profile, somehow my mom was convinced that he was her brother’s son: her nephew. After messaging him and a lot of interrogations back and forth between the two of them, my mom had found her long lost brother. After thirty years apart, my mom had finally reunited her everyone together and I had gained a new family I never knew I had.

To put it in my perspective, Facebook was our hero. There may have been another way to find him, but that was how this story went down, and it didn’t cost anything. Through social media we are able to stay connected with people on a daily basis, even though it may not be possible to do it in person. Through Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, etc., these apps allow people to feel as if they were sitting right there with the person. It allows people to meet others they could have never found by just walking on the streets of their city. Opportunities are endless when it comes to social media including: finding the perfect roommate, deciding who is the perfect fit to hire for the job, matching up with a possible soulmate, or even being able to talk to your favorite celebrity. Through What’s app, I can send videos, pictures and voice messages to all my families in Lebanon and France, and they will know that I passed my license within the same day that I find out. Some say that with easier and constant access to phones, people are restraining themselves from meeting new people and becoming less social. But on the contrary, with this lifestyle, our world has become more linked together through the magic of social media.